medicine
me·di·cine/ˈmɛd.ɪ.sɪn/noun
medicine is spelled M-E-D-I-C-I-N-E, 3 syllables: me·di·cine. The wrong spelling people search most is medecine: about 140 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 72 of all searches for the word. Medicine is a noun meaning “A substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way; a pharmaceutical drug”. The plural of medicine is medicines.
How many letters and syllables are in medicine?
| Letters | 8: M-E-D-I-C-I-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: me·di·cine |
| In writing | 54 times per million words; the 1,899th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, medecine, about 140 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell medicine?
Medicine is spelled M-E-D-I-C-I-N-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 60 of the searches for medicine in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is medicine?
Medicine appears 54 times per million words in written English, the 1,899th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce medicine?
- UK /ˈmɛd.ɪ.s(ɪ)n/
- UK /ˈmɛd.s(ɪ)n/
- US /ˈmɛd.ɪ.sɪn/
Medicine has 3 syllables, split me·di·cine in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-medicine.ogg, En-us-medicine.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with medicine?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as medicine from its last stressed vowel (/ɛdɪsɪn/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of medicine
- medicines plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- medicining participle, present
- medicined participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does medicine mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way; a pharmaceutical drug.
This medicine has fewer adverse effects than others in its drug class.
- 2
Any treatment or cure.
A legislative remedy might be some harsh medicine; is that cure worse than the ill?
- 3
The study of the cause, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease or illness.
She's studying medicine at university because she wants to be a doctor in the future.
- 4
The profession and practice of physicians, including surgeons.
The history of medicine can be discretized into eras with differing relationships between physicians and surgeons
- 5
Scientific medicine.
- 6
The profession and practice of nonsurgical physicians as sometimes distinguished from that of surgeons.
the evolving relationship of medicine to surgery in the nineteenth century
- 7
Ritual magic used, as by a medicine man, to promote a desired outcome in healing, hunting, or warfare; traditional medicine.
- 8
Among the Native Americans, a spiritual power, or any object or person through whom such power is channeled, believed to grant influence over natural or magical forces, provide protection, or effect healing.
verb
- 1
obsoleterareTo treat with medicine.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate medicine?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of medicine: Med, med.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Medicine in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | médicament, remède , traitement, médicaments , médecine |
| German | Arznei, Medizin, Medikament , Heilkunde |
| Portuguese | remédio, medicamento , tratamento , medicina |
| Spanish | medicamento, medicina, remedio, fármaco , medicatura , medicinar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does medicine come from?
From Middle English medicin, from Middle French medicine, from Old French medecine, from Latin medicīna (“the healing art, medicine, a physician's shop, a remedy, medicine”), feminine of medicīnus (“of or belonging to physic or surgery, or to a physician or surgeon”), from medicus (“a physician, surgeon”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).